John Foster (1770-1843) was an English essayist, son of a weaver, born in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, and educated for the ministry at the Baptist college in Bristol. After serving as a minister for several years, he chose to devote himself to literature. He contributed nearly 200 articles to the Eclectic Review. He wrote: Essays, in a Series of Letters (1804), and Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance (1820), in which he urges the necessity of a national system of education.
Location of his birthplace in Hebden Bridge, near Halifax, West Yorkshire is a listed building. See link to google maps below. Description from listed buildings list is as follows:
Description: Manor House with attached cottage & barn Address: Manor House Wadsworth Lane Hebden Bridge HX7 8DL Grade: II Group detail: Wadsworth Lane, Hebden Bridge Full description: House, mid C18 with C20 alterations, bears inscribed tablet "BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN FOSTER THE ESSAYIST BORN 1770". Attached to left is barn and cottage dated 1814. Hammer dressed stone, stone slate roof. 2 storeys. 2-cell symmetrical front. Doorway with monolithic jambs with to either side added bay windows of 3 tall lights, red tile roof. 1st floor preserves 5-light flat faced mullioned windows with date plaque set between. Quoined angles and gable stacks. Added barn has semi-circular arched cart entry with simple Venetian window over, the lintel of which is inscribed "M 1814 C". Mistal doorway to left. Single-cell cottage to right has doorway with monolithic jambs to right of 3-light flat faced mullioned window. Over, to 1st floor, a 4-light window. One stack to ridge. Quoins, coped gable with kneelers.